High resolution Mass Spectrometer with Ion Mobility

• Subject Area: Molecular Chemistry
• Term: Funded in 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 556522408

In this Major Research Instrumentation application, we would like to procure a new high-resolution mass spectrometer (high resolution mass spectrometry, HR-MS) with ion mobility (IMS).Currently, the Center for Molecular and Structural Analytics (CeMSA@HHU) at the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf has an HR-MS (still without ion mobility MS), which was also procured in 2011 via a large-scale equipment application. During the last maintenance of this HR-MS device, major problems with the ion cooler and the digitizer used. In 2023, the device was transferred by the company to the “discontinued” phase. A failure of a pump and the PC has already led to several months of downtime in 2024. Due to the technical condition and the malfunctions that have already occurred, a complete failure of the device is to be expected in the near future. A replacement device is therefore urgently needed, as it is a central and absolutely essential method for the characterization of molecules in chemistry, pharmacy and biology and in the coordinated research programs. The new device will also be equipped with ion mobility. With this, the instrument can be used not only to determine the molecular formula and fragments of molecules, but also to carry out structural elucidation in the gas phase. For the determination of the sample composition ion mobility offers the possibility of determining the components of complex mixtures in the mass spectrometer and to identify them separately. This is also extremely useful with regard to isomers such as those used in pharmacy (structure-function relationships). For research in several groups, the additional function of ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) as a separation technique prior to mass spectrometric identification, also for the elucidation of complex reaction mechanisms, presents a high additional value.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: Hochauflösendes Massenspektrometer mit Ionenmobilität
• Instrumentation Group: 1700 Massenspektrometer
• Applicant Institution: Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf
• Leader: Professorin Dr. Lena Josefine Daumann